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Quell That Insidious Urge To Email

Posted by Judy Mottl Wednesday, Aug 15, 2007, 08:26 AM ET

Do you bring your PDA into the bathroom instead of a magazine? Do you find yourself reaching for the keyboard and mouse instead of the phone? Do you use the midnight hours to respond to customer and client questions? Have you realized that your office line hasn’t rung more than a few times lately? Is your only face-to-face interaction with the coffee vendor each morning?

If you answered yes to any or all of those questions you’re suffering from the latest business malady: Emailitis.

Ok, that isn’t an official medical condition. But it may well be on the horizon as a new survey by SurePayroll indicates that small business is infected with the urge to email with more than 80 percent of small business owners viewing email as a key element to success.

Yet I believe Emailitis is an affliction that if left untreated could potentially hurt a business.

Why? Hey, it’s great to dash off quick answers to customer inquiries but each one of those email missiles could be misconstrued, misinterpreted and mislaid. That could bring big misfires with business goals.

As one survey respondent relates: “People don't always express themselves clearly when writing a message — which means I have to follow up with a phone call anyway to make sure I understood the e-mail mdash; so it is not always a time saver.”

Oh, and there is one other tiny reason: Personal contact still reigns king when it comes to selling, keeping customers happy and keeping staff motivated.

Yet, according to the survey, 62 percent of small business owners believe e-mail is equally effective as or more effective than in-person or phone communication.

Here are some other startling results:

64 percent use more than one e-mail address and nearly a third use three or more addresses.

Nearly 30 percent check e-mail one to four times a day and more than 25 percent check e-mail more than 20 times a day.

More than 50 percent say they spend about one to two hours reading or writing email on a daily basis.

55 percent feel they receive just the right amount of e-mail, followed by 41 percent who feel they receive too many.

So what's your take? Is Emailitis a legitimate concern in your enterprise and if so what tricks and tips are you using to make sure it doesn't infect your business? How much time do you spend reading and replying to email? Have you actually sent email while in the lavatory?

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